Larb

Minced meat (chicken, pork, beef, or duck) tossed warm with toasted ground rice, fish sauce, lime juice, dried chilli, shallot, mint, and coriander, served with raw vegetables and sticky rice. The Isan minced-meat salad with the signature toasted rice powder giving a distinctive nutty, savoury textural element distinct from any other South-East Asian preparation.

Pairs Perfectly

Off-dry Riesling Kabinett from the Mosel, Germany. The Asian cuisine default at its most precise for larb — lower alcohol (8–9%) stays kind to dried chilli, residual sweetness moderates the heat, and the slate-mineral acid handles the lime and fish sauce together. A Vouvray demi-sec from the Loire offers the same off-dry logic in France at a similar price point.

Pairs Well

Argentine Torrontés from Salta. High-altitude floral aromatics meet mint and coriander in a single sweep, and the moderate alcohol stays clear of capsaicin amplification.

Pinot Noir from Marlborough, New Zealand. The Asian cuisine New World answer for the duck or beef versions — lighter red-fruit and high acid handle the meat where the white answers focus on the dressing.

Worth Seeking Out

Pinot Noir from the Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. The Burgundian-style Australian Pinot with red-fruited earth and silky tannin meets larb's complex herbal-savoury profile with rare precision.

Avoid

Oaked wines — react badly with fish sauce; tannic reds — clash with the lime; wines above 13% alcohol — sharpen the chilli; bone-dry austere whites — fight the bright dressing.

Failing That

A Riesling Spätlese, Mosel.

If All Else Fails

Sauvignon Blanc, Touraine.

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